


and the dead stood in the doorway

by lynn_jpg



Category: Ghost Quartet - Malloy, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe, Angst, Bedtime Stories, Character Death, Child Abuse, F/M, Family, Ghost Quartet AU, Ghosts, House of Usher, Loneliness, M/M, Major Character Injury, Mild Gore, Minor Dabi/Takami Keigo | Hawks, Todoroki Enji | Endeavor's Bad Parenting, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:27:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23646133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lynn_jpg/pseuds/lynn_jpg
Summary: "and the dead stood in the doorway.""THERE IS BLOOD UPON MY ROBES."in which touya todoroki descends into madness with his mother's stories, a ghost, and a family dinner
Relationships: Dabi & Takami Keigo | Hawks, Dabi & Todoroki Family (My Hero Academia), Dabi/Takami Keigo | Hawks, Takami Keigo | Hawks/Todoroki Touya, Todoroki Family & Todoroki Touya, Todoroki Rei & Todoroki Touya
Kudos: 23





	and the dead stood in the doorway

**Author's Note:**

> let me just say, wow. I'm am beyond happy with this work. I wrote this from midnight to three in the morning and I ecstatic with how it came out. not beta read tho. 
> 
> anywho, this story is based on the musical ghost quartet (more importantly, the house of usher storyline). however, you DO NOT need to have heard the musical for this to make sense. 
> 
> that being said, a lot of the lines in this are taken from the musical. I will try and go into further detail in the end notes. 
> 
> be sure to check the tags before reading in case of any triggers you might have. I really hope you enjoy this

_ "and the dead stood in the doorway." _

_ "THERE IS BLOOD UPON MY ROBES." _

_ _____________ _

**HIS MOTHER USED** to read him stories when he was younger. Back then, he was her entire world. He was her sunshine. He was her pride and joy-

A lot had changed. 

Mother knew a lot of stories, Touya discovered while growing up. It seemed she had new tale to spin every night. And that didn't stop when his siblings were born. Mother made it an effort to read to all of them. She had one thousand-and-one stories, after all. 

They would snuggle up together in Touya's bed some nights, and Mother would tell them a story. Fuyumi would cuddle up together with her older brother, and Natsuo would lay near the foot of his bed (he'd been banished there - a restless child with constantly moving feet), and Mother would hold little baby Shouto and all was right in the world. As they grew up, the tradition fell apart, and mother could no longer keep weaving tales of two sisters, a bear, and an astronomer to please them. 

Maybe at one point, he'd been Mother's favorite. Maybe Father's, too. However, time was a tricky little bastard who didn't always play fair; time was not fair to Touya Todoroki. 

Father used to love him, Touya thinks. He vaguely remembers playing cars with him or being tossed up in the air only to be caught again. But he soon learned Father didn't have any love for his children - only for quirks. 

He'd always been rough on him in the training room.  _ "You're the oldest, Touya,"  _ he had said.  _ "You need to be a better example - you need to be the best."  _ Father always did have incredibly high standards. 

Touya could never fulfill them. 

Father punished him for his failures. He wasn't kind when it came to mistakes. Fire, something that was supposed to be  _ his _ , became the enemy. The once-friendly flame was no longer so kind. Touya learned he was afraid of fire, but the fire showed no mercy. 

For years, he suffered at the cruel, unforgiving hands of the flame. He let himself be used and abused, let himself be kindling to the fire. Pale skin became littered with burns and bruises and the fire in his eyes had long-since faded. The fire inside of him had been snuffed out. 

A flame in Shouto was lit. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Touya wasn't needed anymore. He didn't have anything left to offer Father. He was thrown aside. He was no longer Father's muse; that title went to Shouto. 

Mother didn't want him either. Where had she been when he was suffering at the hands of the flame? Mother's madness was spiraling into epic proportions with each year that passed. When she looked at Touya, all she saw was Father. 

That's all Touya saw, too. 

His other siblings weren't much help either. They were had grown used to being cast away by Father. Mother had taken them in and shut Touya out. He was all alone. 

That is, until he came. 

Touya stayed in his bedroom most of the time. It was a big house, but they're wasn't really anywhere else to go. He was lonely. 

He came one night. He was so heavenly divine that Touya thought he was an angel. He'd told him that, and the man just laughed. He wasn't an angel. 

He called himself Hawks. 

Brilliant red wings stretched across his back. He'd often detach feathers to play with Touya. His golden eyes were always so warm and welcoming. His grin was playful and mischievous. He quickly became Touya's best friend. 

It would've been great except for the fact Hawks was dead. He was a ghost - just the same as anyone else, really. 

That didn't stop him from being Touya's best friend though.  _ "How many people can say they have a ghost friend?"  _ Touya had joked, and Hawks had laughed. He always did like Touya's jokes. 

Maybe that's because Hawks was sad. He didn't openly admit it, but he could see it in his drooping eyes, the weary smile upon his face, the worry lines that shouldn't crease a face so young. Hawks was sad. Touya was too. 

"I'm lonely," Hawks had admitted one night. Touya was too. "... I want you to cross over. Then we could be together forever."

Touya had frowned. "I think Mom would miss me."

Hawks just tucked him in with a sad, little grin. The conversation was dropped. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Touya had finally snapped at dinner one night. Maybe it was a combination of the loneliness, the tense atmosphere at the table, or the fact that  _ Fuyumi just had to ask who Dabi was chuckling at even though Hawks was just right fucking there- _

He couldn't take it anymore. The chaos bubbled up from inside him, and he choked it out. Told them all about Hawks and the loneliness and that otherside because that was all he knew,  _ that was he knew- _

None of the family had held a proper conversation with him in  _ years.  _ He was just  _ forgotten _ , thrown aside like an old toy no one wanted to play with anymore. The silence was too much, and he caved, spilling all of his secrets as he spiraled towards insanity. 

"Listen, he's  _ real!  _ I know who Hawks is! He’s my  _ friend _ , he died when I was a baby, blah blah blah. And now he’s lonely and wants me to 'cross over.' And maybe that’d be sad for you, but maybe it’d be great for me."

The table grew silent, watching as he continued rambling nonsense to them. A manic grin spread across Touya's lips, and he pulled at his hair in frustration. 

"He says all the adults over there wish they had died when they were little too, cuz it’s so much better over there than all this crap, and all this crap with getting old, and disease, and war, and torture, and butchers, and having to be alone with your stupid mind all the time?

"He says that over there they don’t have quirks or any of that shit and everyone’s mind is just fine. They just hang out in nature all the time, only it’s better cuz it’s perfect nature, with no bugs or humidity or anything. And no, Natsuo, it’s not so perfect it’s boring, they figured that out too, so there are grey days and rain and stuff, but it’s fine, cuz everyone likes to be a little sad some of the time, and watch the rain on the windowsills... Cuz they're all soul. They are all soul."

"Touya, that is quite enough-" Mother declared softly, standing up and reaching for his hand. He pulled away, a glint of fear in his eyes as if he were afraid of what her touch might do. Maybe he was. He'd gone so long without it. 

Nonetheless, he continued his rant, growing hysterical. His arms were beginning to heat up, the smallest of flames starting to form. 

"Did you know Hawks is a Starchild? That's right, he's a freaking Starchild! So, I’m sorry if this is like, sad for you, but you're gonna be dead in like, 30 years, and even less if you two keep drinking like-" He paused a brief moment to make a motion with his hand. "-and when you meet me over there you’ll see, and you’ll think God, that 30 years of being all sad was just stupid, but who cares anymore, because now it's just an eternity of soul! And swimming! And fruit!"

"Touya Todoroki-" Father stood up, flames around his body enlarging. He'd been fuming in silent anger, but the volcano had erupted, and he could hold back no more. 

"Why don't you just shut up?!" Touya shrieked, slamming his hands on the dinner table where his siblings still sat, wide-eyed and shaking. "Why don’t you, just have another fucking drink, and shut the fuck up!"

The slap across the face came swift and hard. Touya flew backwards and onto the floor, clutching his cheek in his hand. He was silent for a moment before bursting out into chaotic laughter. Father was fuming, flames dangerously dancing across his skin. Touya's own blue ones were dancing a furious tango in retaliation. 

Mother quickly escorted her children out of the room - Touya didn't have the privilege of being called her son anymore. At least now, Father could beat him without any mercy. 

Touya let himself burn. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


He'd been burned before, but not like this. 

His skin was charred a purple color - Touya wasn't even aware that was something skin could do. It was sliding apart from the healthy flesh, grotesque and mutilated. Crimson gold dripped freely, decorating him like a sacrifice. The pain was unbearable. He kept falling in and out of consciousness, only to awake to the smell of burnt and rotting flesh. 

Touya had laid dying on the kitchen floor for an hour before anyone had done anything. 

Hawks was nowhere to be found. 

Father hired a woman with a healing quirk - rare to come across, but not too difficult to hire when you were a high-ranking hero. She asked no questions and was silent while she worked. 

He'd awaken a few times to her worried expression and excruciating pain before passing out again. However, a healing quirk could only do so much. 

She stapled him up like some sort of zombie, dead flesh still attached to the living. He looked like a walking corpse, just a soul trapped inside a shell, no reason to keep going. It took fourteen-hours to bring him back to stable condition. He was pretty sure he'd died at least once during that time. 

Touya wanted to thank her. Either that, or beg her to just let him die. She was simply doing her job… he couldn't help but hate her for it. 

He was a thrown back into his room after that, still in intense pain. Her quirk didn't do anything to relieve the hurt, only to keep him still living. He loathed her. 

…. He wished Hawks was here. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Even hours after the incident, he was still up. 

The pain was flowing through his body like it was infused with his blood. He wished he could just pass out from the pain, but it wasn't that simple. Everytime he closed his eyes, he saw Father's flame, barreling towards him, engulfing his body-

Touya's eyes shot open. He was scared. And alone. 

The door creaked open. He glanced over at it, fear shooting through his body.  _ Please, no more, no more, I've learned my lesson, I had enough, I'll be good, I'll be good- _

Mother entered the room. She'd always been small, but right here, right now, she looked weak and frail… maybe Touya wasn't the only one hurting. She said nothing. The ghost woman merely sat down at the chair by his bed, like she used to when she would tell a story for him when he was little. 

Her delicate hand came to gently hold his bandaged one. She remained silent. Touya thought he was crying. Maybe Mother was too. 

"Mommy?" Touya croaked out after awhile of them sitting in silence together. He was far too old to be calling her that, but inside he felt vulnerable and scared enough to. "Mommy… will you read me a story?"

She sniffed, a stray tear falling onto her lap. She gave his hand a light squeeze. "Touya, honey, you've got to go to sleep."

"I can't," he admitted in a whisper. "It's not dark enough. Too many little lights…" He didn't have to say what he really meant - she already knew. 

He let out a shaky exhale, slowly shifting so he could get a better look at her. "Did… did your mom ever tell you stories?"

Mother looked distant, but not afraid. Not anymore. She ran a hand through his hair. "... My mother wasn't very nice."

"Oh. I'm sorry, Mom… just one story?"

She nodded, pressing a kiss to his forehead. "Alright," she relented with a wavering smile. "Arabian Nights?"

"Yeah."

"Alright."

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Touya was dying. 

It wasn't all to hard to figure out. He was a thin and sickly thing, confined to his bed due to the incident. His body began shutting down. It was time. 

No one would know. No one had visited him after the incident except for Mother - even then, she didn't say much. Maybe she knew what was happening, too. 

Seconds bled into minutes, minutes bled into hours, hours bled into days-... he'd lost track of time. It was so lonely in here. He was frightened. He was alone. 

He was going to die stuck in this room, and no one would know. Maybe that wasn't all a bad thing. Maybe it'd make it easier in his family. He didn't want to say goodbye. 

Touya turned his head to the seat beside his bed. Hawks occupied it, wings tucked in. He sent Touya a smile, brilliant white teeth and all. He grabbed Touya's hand, rubbing circles into the back of it. 

"It's time to cross over," Hawks hummed sadly, wings drooping. "... You won't be lonely anymore."

"True," Touya mused sadly, looking down at their now intertwined hands. 

The moment before you die is such a gift. You get to choose what goes through your head. What your last song will be. 

Touya tucked Hawks and his intertwined hands underneath his head, smiling sadly. He thought of someone he loved very much, smiling in bed, holding a teddy bear. 

And with that, he died, the mockery of a faint blush and suspiciously lingering smile on his face. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Mother didn't handle the news very well. 

Mother burned Shouto after it happened. 

Mother left the for the hospital. 

…Mother didn't come back. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Touya's stayed in the room. 

Touya's siblings mourned. 

… Touya's Father did not. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


What remained of the Todoroki family sat in the living room. A storm was raging outside. They said nothing to each other, the sound of wind and rain filling the silence. 

Father opened a book, read the title. He frowned, almost saddened by something. He read aloud a tale of a subway train, trying to fill Mother's absence. 

In the book, a girl was playing a game on her phone. And in the game, the girl was a soldier, sent to slay a bear with a mighty sword. 

… If the family heard the echo of footsteps, they said nothing. 

In the book, there's a man behind the girl, screaming about the apocalypse. The girl plays her game, and she selects the sword. 

… If the family heard the creaking of the stairs, they said nothing. 

In the book, the girl raises her sword. She strikes the bear on the side. The bear shrieks. 

… The family could not deny the shriek ricocheted through the house - a shriek so harsh and horrid and piercing. 

The children huddled together. Fuyumi held her younger brothers tight, eyes darting around the room in anticipation. Father put down the book. A flashbulb ripped. 

And the dead stood in the doorway. 

"... T-Touya…?"

He stood in the doorway, staples missing, cheeks sunken in, skin pale, burnt flesh and all. Tears streamed down his patchwork skin. He gripped the doorframe and cried out. 

_ "THERE IS BLOOD UPON MY ROBES!" _

The corpse leaped upon Father, a rage built up inside. A rage built from loneliness, insanity, and loss. The room ignites in an inferno of blue flames. 

Father's heart burst - exploded within his chest. 

**Author's Note:**

> so, the house of usher storyline is actually by edgar allen poe! I thought it was fitting - especially for the todoroki family! I may do more pieces inspired by ghost quartet because I really like how this came out. 
> 
> anyways, some big chunks of dialogue I took from the musical include the todoroki family dinner scene. dabi's lines from there are all from family meeting, just tweeted a bit to fit hawks. rei todoroki is a mix of scheherazade and lady usher (she tells stories). touya's lil' death scene references usher pt 3 (pearl's death) and usher pt 2 (roxie's death). The whole ending chunk is usher pt 3. enji is a mix of edgar usher and lady usher in that scene, and touya is roxie back from the dead. other references and lines are slipped in throughout the story. 
> 
> well, I hope you enjoyed what you read (even if you haven't heard of ghost quartet)! please, leave feedback down below! thank you for reading!


End file.
